OpenAI says it shut China-linked campaign using ChatGPT to stir data-centre hate

OpenAI published a June 2026 security report titled "PRC-linked influence operations are targeting AI debates in the US," alleging China-based actors used ChatGPT to generate anti-data-centre, anti-tariff and anti-US sentiment online. The company says it banned a cluster of ChatGPT accounts that likely originated in China and were used to generate social media content for a covert influence operation.

Writing in simplified Chinese, users asked ChatGPT for political cartoons that targeted spiking electricity costs from AI data centres and Donald Trump’s behaviour. The tech was also used to generate antisemitic memes about "Jewish capital" and to besmirch Chinese dissidents; the prompts, OpenAI says, "repeatedly used terminology consistent with individuals associated with China’s public security system." Cartoons, short phrases and rumours of a nonexistent OpenAI data leak were then shared on platforms such as X and Facebook by networks of fake accounts.

China

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